Animal Testing - Necessary or Barbaric and Wrong -...

Animal testing has for a long time been a much debated moral issue. For many, this kind of testing has been the only kind of hope for developing new medicines and treatments for illness. For others, it is an unacceptable and unnecessary cruel way of exploiting animals for our own purposes. Treatments for illnesses such as tuberculosis, diabetes, kidney failure and asthma have all been discovered, and vaccinations against polio, diphtheria, tetanus and measles for example have all been found. There are strict laws in place for using animals for testing and research purposes, so as to minimise any pain and distress the animals may encounter. The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 ensures that the usage of animals must be kept to a†¦show more content†¦He explains why this is the case. An anti-rheumatic drug killed 76 people in Britain, and 3500 others were left seriously ill. This particular medication had been researched using animals for seven years, which is a clear example of how humans and animals do not always react in the same ways. Also, thousands of people with heart conditions suffered having taken another medicine which had been tested on animals. In fact, the same drug (Eraldin) has, so far, not acted on any other species of animal in the same way that it acted on humans. The development of new anti-HIV drugs has also been a key issue regarding the inconsistencies of animal testing. In 1989 a major pharmaceutical company was working what seemed to be a potentially very successful drug. However, in trials on dogs and rats, all the animals died. Research immediately stopped as the company presumed it would have the same fatal effect on humans. It is clear though in the examples of the anti-rheumatic drug and Eraldin that humans and animals will not necessarily be affected in the same way. Because of the death of the dogs and rats, trials of a new HIV treatment did not start again until 1993. These 4 years lost could have saved many lives, had the researchers carried on testing of the new drug. Also, HIV is a disease which only affects humans, so the results of the animal tests may not have beenShow MoreRelatedOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 PagesPHILADELPHIA Temple University Press 1601 North Broad Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122 www.temple.edu/tempress Copyright  © 2010 by Temple University All rights reserved Published 2010 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Essays on twentieth century history / edited by Michael Peter Adas for the American Historical Association. p. cm.—(Critical perspectives on the past) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-4399-0269-1 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-1-4399-0270-7